The business executive was deep in debt and could see
no way out.
Creditors were closing in on him. Suppliers were demanding
payment. He sat on the park bench, head in hands, wondering
if anything could save his company from bankruptcy.
Suddenly an old man appeared before him. "I can see that
something is troubling you," he said.
After listening to the executive's woes, the old man said,
"I believe I can help you."
He asked the man his name, wrote out a check, and pushed
it into his hand saying, "Take this money. Meet me here exactly
one year from today, and you can pay me back at that time."
Then he turned and disappeared as quickly as he had come.
The business executive saw in his hand a check for $500,000,
signed by John D. Rockefeller, then one of the richest men
in the world!
"I can erase my money worries in an instant!" he realized.
But instead, the executive decided to put the uncashed check
in his safe. Just knowing it was there might give him the
strength to work out a way to save his business, he thought.
With renewed optimism, he negotiated better deals and
extended terms of payment. He closed several big sales.
Within a few months, he was out of debt and making money
once again.
Exactly one year later, he returned to the park with the
uncashed check. At the agreed-upon time, the old man
appeared. But just as the executive was about to hand
back the check and share his success story, a nurse came
running up and grabbed the old man.
"I'm so glad I caught him!" she cried. "I hope he hasn't been
bothering you. He's always escaping from the rest home
and telling people he's John D. Rockefeller."
And she led the old man away by the arm.
The astonished executive just stood there, stunned. All year
long he'd been wheeling and dealing, buying and selling,
convinced he had half a million dollars behind him.
Suddenly, he realized that it wasn't the money, real or
imagined, that had turned his life around. It was his
newfound self-confidence that gave him the power to achieve
anything he went after.